


My Browncoat Hero

by Flanker27_UK



Category: Cormoran Strike Series - Robert Galbraith, Firefly
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-10
Updated: 2020-01-10
Packaged: 2021-02-27 16:00:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,808
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22199764
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Flanker27_UK/pseuds/Flanker27_UK
Summary: AU Robin never went to Cormoran from Temporary SolutionsSandra stayed as his SecretarySet post 2012 Olympics and fate brings them togetherPassing Reference to Firefly
Comments: 8
Kudos: 30





	My Browncoat Hero

**My Browncoat Hero**

Strike sat relaxing as the tube train swayed gently along the longer stretch of track, at least he wouldn’t have to stump up and down stairways as Tottenham Court Rd was direct from Ealing, where he had been delivering the bad news and a set of incriminating photographs to his client.

He sighed

_You would think by now I’d be used to people throwing their relationships away for a quick fuck. What an arse, the wife was lovely and they had angelic twin daughters who had just started at school. A lovely house in West London, a wife who had plainly adored her husband, who he had left crying inconsolably at the evidence of her supposed love screwing around with a nineteen year old intern._

He’d made her some tea and awkwardly tried to hug the woman but such comfort was really beyond him, since his breakup with Charlotte he’d built barriers around his emotions, anything to stop the pain he’d experienced when he’d finally split with her.

_At least the bloody Olympics is over and the city is winding back from the manic state it’s been in for the last couple of months. Sandra is OK as a secretary, but I really need someone I can work with and partner who can handle this shit better than me._

_Who am I kidding she’s bloody useless but at least I know her faults, I’d hate to train up someone new. Why did I have to take her on from Temporary Solutions, I should have trusted my gut._

_And she still can’t make decent tea._

_Oh well she’s only got another week I suppose I should be glad for her & Melvin, I hope she makes a better mum than secretary._

He pulled his comfy brown coat closer round himself and settled back in the seat, he thought back to the shouts some kids had hurled in his direction, after he’d stopped them harassing a little Indian lady in the street.

_Oiks, who on earth is Malcolm Reynolds anyway? Never heard of him_

His attention was drawn back to the young woman sitting just across the carriage from him, his surveillance instincts had kicked in when she had sat down, something was certainly on her mind, she kept looking at something in her hand and swallowing.

_None of my business, but she looks really stressed, she is really pretty, that hair looks like it’s on fire._

She saw him looking at her and gave him a wan smile

“Are you OK? I can’t help noticing you seem a bit upset”

The redhead jumped a little

“Sorry?”

There was a hint of a lovely accent

“I asked if you were OK?”

“You’re not a Londoner are you?”

Strike grinned

“Of course not, a Londoner wouldn’t make eye contact or speak on the tube! I can tell you aren’t either, I’m from Cornwall”

“No I’m a Yorkshire lass, been down here 18 months since I got married”

Strike looked at her left hand, no rings?

She seemed to come to a decision, stood up and moved next to Strike

“Robin Cunliffe” she said with her hand extended

“Though I feel I’m about to revert to my maiden name” the later with eyes brimming with tears

“Where are you heading? I’m here for at least ½ an hour and I’m a good listener”

That broke the floodgates, tears streamed down the poor girls face as she sobbed her heart out, the other passengers, typically, shuffled to the other end of the carriage and left them to it. Cormoran’s heart went out to her, he gently put his arm around her shoulders and she turned into him and clung to him as if her life depended on it

The whole sorry tale came out

A husband who she could never seem to do right for

His friends were her only friends in London, she felt so lonely

Moving from temp job to temp job, never seeming to find anything she liked that would satisfy her husband’s expectations of the job his wife should do.

Finally her suspicions that he was having an affair

She sat up then and looked at this large man who had seemingly seen right through her, she hadn’t noticed his size, his demeanour, his broken nose before. She had just been drawn to the kindness he’d shown her.

“Sorry, Sorry, here I am grizzling all over you and I don’t even know your name”

“That’s easy, Cormoran Strike”

“Cormoran, like the Cornish Giant?”

This inordinately pleased Strike

“Yeah, I think this must be fate, I just happen to be a private detective so proving marriage infidelity is sort of right up my street”

“Oh I think I’ve got enough proof, I’m pretty sure he’s having an affair with someone he met at university”

She opened he hand up to show him a diamond ear stud

“I found this in our bed, it’s identical to one I was admiring of Sarah’s at dinner last week, COW!”

“When I found it I hacked into his laptop, the idiot never changes his password and it’s the same as we use for Netflix. I setup a redirect of all his emails to my account & I’ve been checking his phone texts after he’s gone to sleep. Arrogant idiot thinks I’m a silly girl!”

“Wow, that’s good work, so what’s happening now?”

“He’s arranged to meet her at Leicester Square tonight for dinner & a stayover, I’m supposed to think he’s off on a teambuilding exercise with work. Bastard, I’ll team-build him!”

“Can I give you some advice & offer some help?”

Robin nodded her assent

“You need pictures, they are a slam dunk for divorce proceedings, otherwise it’s all a bit he said, she said”

“Oh I never thought of that”

“Not a problem, I always carry a camera, Leicester Square is near to my place I could shadow you and make sure you get the evidence you need, have you got a picture of your husband so I can get the right pictures ?”

Robin showed him a picture of her with an Adonis of a man holding up her left hand with a large engagement ring

_What a knob, you’ve certainly underestimated your wife, a woman scorned and all that….._

“Err, how much do you charge, I’m afraid I haven’t got much money”

Strike gave her a very old fashioned look

“Let’s say it’s pro bono, one non Londoner to another, it’s not exactly a major use of my time”

“Right, you know where they are meeting, I’ll just follow you and get the pictures, one thing though, I walk with a bit of a limp so no dashing ahead like a Gazelle”

_Like a Gazelle where the fuck did that come from?_

“Now we’ve got about 25 minutes till Leicester Square so let’s chat about you, tell me a bit about yourself Robin”

Strike listened to Robin as she confidently filled him in on her background, dropping in that she’d done Psychology at Uni and was attracted to investigative work and that he was the first detective she’d really met, all the time she spoke a plan was forming at the back of Cormoran’s mind.

“Right here we are, good luck Robin”

“Thank you Cormoran, you feel like a good friend already & we’ve only just met”

They climbed the escalators Strike staying a few step behind her, it allowed him to secretly admire her trim figure

_What a fucking idiot her husband is_

They came into the Square and Robin walked slowly towards the Odeon where she knew Matthew had arranged to meet Sarah. She moved carefully with the crowds until she saw him standing waiting with a bouquet of Red Roses

_What an arsehole he hasn’t bought me any flowers since we moved down here_

Robin heard a squeal as a slightly plump blond threw herself at her husband and proceeded to kiss him hard on the mouth with no regard to the crowds swirling around them.

She looked round and saw Strike checking the display on his camera, he grinned at Robin and stuck his thumb up

Robin marched across and stood right in front of them, waiting patiently for them to come up for air.

Matthew sighed, rubbed his hands up and down his lover’s back and opened his eyes

To see a very, very angry wife staring back at him

“Rob, what the hell you doing here?”

“Watching you ‘Teambuild’ with this cow!”

“I can explain”

“No need, I’ve seen enough, I’ve been monitoring your mails & texts for the last few weeks so I know what’s going on”

“Rob It’s not serious, you’re the one I love really”

Sarah looked aghast at this

“You told me you were going to leave her for me”

Robin glared at her, “You are welcome to the unfaithful arsehole”

Robin opened her hand to show her wedding and engagement rings & the stud she’d found

“You might as well have these and Sarah’s stud, I found it in our bed”

She then proceeded to throw them across the teeming square as hard as she could

“You bitch, those cost a fortune”

Matthew raised his hand and went to slap Robin as hard as he could

When an iron vice closed around his wrist

“It’s not the done thing for a Gentleman to hit a lady, but then, you’re no Gentleman”

“Cormoran Strike is the name, I’m your wife’s private detective, come on Robin, let’s go to my office. You will be hearing from Robin’s lawyer shortly”

He took Robin’s elbow and started to steer her towards Charring Cross Rd

Strike felt a blow to his kidney

“Oof”

Robin stood with her hand to her mouth, seeing Matthew fuming at the big detective

Strike turned around and looked his opponent up and down, he broke into a grin

“Thanks for hitting me, that was just the excuse I wanted”

And like lightning snapped a solid punch square onto Matthew’s nose, feeling the cartilage break under his knuckles

“Not so easy is it when it’s a man who can hit back.”

\-----

Cormoran showed Robin into his office and sat her down

“OK, want a tea?”

She nodded

“Please, thank you for helping me Cormoran, I think he would have hit me if you hadn’t been there, he’s got a foul temper”

“All part of the service, I can recommend a friend of mine who’s a lawyer if you want?”

She nodded at him “Please”

“Now, I know you’ve had a shock but you really impressed me with how you tracked down your husband’s infidelity and how you handled yourself. My secretary is about to leave and have a baby. I need someone smart who I can train up to be an investigator

I think it would suit you down to the ground,

what do you think ? ”


End file.
